Dreaded Times
by HotAyer
Summary: The Vex. They ruined everything. They took all of our progress, and threw it away. Now, Oryx is back with a vengeance. Cayde is dead, the Human race is dead, and The Last City fell to chaos. Right now, from how we see it, there's no surviving this under any circumstances. Dreaded times are upon us.
1. Prologue

**HEY GUYS! I'm back! I'm going to experiment with a darker, perhaps depressing feel this time around. If you like it, give some suggestions for future chapters! Welcome to Dreaded Times!**

Prologue: A Dead World

We thought we had him. We thought we fixed all of the world's problems. We thought. We THOUGHT we destroyed Oryx. If it weren't for the Vex, we wouldn't be mourning Cayde right now. The Vex... the damned Vex. Their control over time brought us to a time when the Hive Ascendants, the Cabal Primuses, the Fallen Kells, and the Vex overlords rule supreme, with Oryx behind them all. The loss of the Hunter Vanguard, Cayde-6, was all because of this, and his gambling problem. He bet 20,000 Glimmer that we wouldn't find anything else on the Dreadnaught, and he was so very wrong. The new Vanguard roster consisted only of Exos now. In fact, the entire world consisted of Exos now. The Human race is extinct, the Awoken Reef has been destroyed along with its citizens, and the rest of the Earth, besides The Last City, has been annihilated by darkness. We were artificial, but dead. We kept dying over and over and over, and to what avail? Sometimes, it only seems that we'll be claimed by the Darkness. It almost seems welcoming now. It seems better than what is happening now. The Last City has fallen into chaos, but the new Vanguard roster can keep a tight hold on it.

The Vanguard. They consisted of Torrent-2, the Hunter Vanguard, original slayer of Oryx; Platinum-9 the Titan Vanguard, destroyer of the Fallen House of Devils; and Siphon-8, the Warlock Vanguard, the genius behind breaking the Beckenstein Limit. They watched over The Last City better than anyone ever has. That's only because it's turned to this.

My name is Uranium-3, a voidwalker Warlock. I've known Siphon-8 long enough to know that Warlocks are no joke. We're set off easy, especially during these times. My friends and long-time fireteam consisted of me, Tungsten-10, a striker Titan, and Alpha-5, a Bladedancer Hunter. Alpha-5 hasn't been in the fireteam too long, but she's extremely skilled with a knife, and seems to be hiding something. No idea what it could be. Torrent-2 said something about 'losing the only thing that mattered to him' to the Vex. I'm intrigued, and a little skeptical, about the loss of this 'thing'. I don't know, but Alpha-5 has been involved with the Vex ever since she joined the Guardians. I don't know, I'm just ranting.

How did this all turn to shit? Let me tell you. It all started when Torrent and his 5 fireteam members went on a suicide mission to kill Oryx, with a resounding success. Then the Vex had to exist. They can manipulate time. They can 'think' you away. They can keep you in a single moment for millennia. They can flash-forward you to a time where everything is going to shit, like now for instance. We've been thrown forward 700 years. The Exos have no sense of age, but all other forms of life created by light are extinct. Now, Oryx has returned. He's brought a larger army, an anger strong enough to destroy Earth, and a vengeance so fueled that practically nothing could stop him. Nothing. Not even the strength of The Last City. We're crippled. We're lost. We need a light in the dark. We won't survive this. Guardians have been leaping off the Tower rail to plunge to their death in despair. They couldn't handle the fact that we might not make it through this. They have good reason to, but that shows them as mentally weak.

Now, we're strong. The Guardians won't go down without a fight. We'll hold out as long as possible, even if that means we die out there with our hands on our hearts. These are dreaded times, but we'll push as goddamn hard as we can. Traveler save us now...

 **That's it for now. Very doom and gloom from the start. I'll try my hardest to make connections to 'A Hunter, a Hero, a Legend' here, and make some connections to lore maybe. Welp, see y'all later!**


	2. Chapter 1: Losing a Friend

**Here we go. I'd love to hear feedback about this, and maybe some suggestions! The idea of this story was built on a suggestion! Ready? Alright let's do this!**

Chapter 1: Losing a Friend

"We all set to go?" Alpha announced to Tungsten and I. "Yep. Let's do it." I assure her, as I load up my fusion rifle. We load up in our fireteam-issued ship. Tungsten wasn't a very social Titan, he actually rarely talks, so he says nothing. Alpha-5 loads up her Hawkmoon and her sniper rifle. "Alright. Let's do it." Torrent managed to spot a patch of Vex and Cabal on Mars. They were at war against eachother, and we were sent in to suppress it. Once we landed on Mars after a roughly 10-minute flight to Meridian Bay, we scouted out the area. It didn't take too long to find them. It was one of the biggest firefights between them we've seen in a while. "How do you want to do this?" Alpha spoke up. I suggest, "I dunno. Create a diversion, draw their attention from the West, and I'll bomb them from the East. What about the Taken threat?" "I'll handle them. Tungsten, you got our backs?" "Hmph.." "Okay. Let's rock." Alpha starts firing at them, and I swing around a nearby canyon. Tungsten starts circling around the group, shooting the warzone with his auto rifle. I'm trying to be as quiet as I can, but I'm not the best walker in the city.

I stumble, and a Vex Minotaur snaps its head towards me. ' _Aw shit. That didn't work.'_ I duck behind a rock, and I radio the team, "Take some cover! They're circling up!" Everybody takes some cover, and we wait for the right time. They're shooting almost nonstop. If I stepped out, I was dead meat. What's unfortunate is... you can't fool a machine, so there was no way around the Vex. On the bright side, we're machines, so we have an edge with reflexes. "Uranium! Any genius ideas to get us out of this shit?" Alpha shouts over the radio. "We wait. Just wait." After about 2 minutes, Tungsten gets an idea. He starts to pop out periodically, and fires bursts at them. We didn't need communication with him, because we've been a part of the same team for around 30 years now. Alpha and I know exactly what to do. Alpha runs back to a cliff, and she's there in no time. I pop out, jump off the canyon, and unleashed my Nova Bomb. It lands, and they all disintegrate in void light. That's when I knew I fucked up. I saw a spot in the corner of my eye. It didn't have the look of a Hobgoblin or anything. It had the look of a Guardian, but Siphon didn't tell us about anyone else out here. Bad news.

I saw a flash, and I soon found myself tumbling to the ground. "Uranium! Shit!" Alpha shouted. She started to run toward me from her sniping perch. I found my optics glitching out. That was no ordinary bullet. I couldn't move. My servos started to go haywire, and I looked up to see a faint glint. It started to fall down, and hit the ground like a rock. Alpha managed to take out the rogue, then started to run over to me. "Uranium!" Tungsten runs over, and starts shooting at the cliffs. There were more. "Fuck! We need to get out of here!" Alpha screamed. She picks me up, and starts running. "Tungsten! Let's go!" We thought we'd get out together, but we haven't seen the true side of Tungsten-10. We heard a voice we never heard before. "You two need to leave! The City's going to shit, and they need you! This is it for me!" "Tungsten... Come on!" "GO! NOW!" Alpha was stunned silent. She just started running. I saw him holding out as hard as he could. He always did. As Alpha ran with me over her shoulder, I saw a stream that looked like a bullet go right through his knee. He fell down and was riddled with bullets. I saw everything, but I couldn't react. Alpha shouted, "There's the ship!" I saw another flash in the distance, and that was the last thing I saw before I woke up in the ship.

When I rebooted, Alpha was shaking me awake. "Uranium.. Come on..." I rebooted, and saw her there. "Al-Alpha?" "Right. It's me. Look, about Tungsten..." She was silent. "I know. I saw it. Tungsten is gone." "You saw it?" "Yep." "I-I didn't know that about Tungsten." "That was the first time I ever saw him like that, and he died with his hand on his heart. He saved us." Alpha was silent, and she was thinking about him. "Now, about what hit me. What the actual hell happened?" "EMP round. Hit you in the shoulder. Critical point. You were out for about 4 hours." "Well, you have to give it to them, that was a good shot." "Come on. Let's go. We need to collect our rewards for a completed mission." She helps me up, and we go to to Siphon and Torrent in the Vanguard Hall. I don't know why, but Alpha seems to be really nervous when she's around Torrent. "Everything okay, Alpha?" Torrent asked. "Y-yeah, I'm fine." "Alright. If there's any more problems, just let me know. I'm sorry about Tungsten-10." "Thanks.. I just-" "I understand what it's like to lose a good friend. Cayde got me further than I ever imagined. Sometimes it's just too late to say goodbye. Now you two take the week off. You look rough." "Thanks." I speak up. "See you next week."

 **That's it for today! Leave a review to bring up some suggestions, I'm open to constructive criticism! Seeya!**


	3. Chapter 2: A Step Back

**Hey guys! Sorry it took so long, but I've been sick lately! Here's chapter 2!**

Chapter 2: A Step Back

 _20,031 years before the death of Platinum-10_

"Uranium, where ya goin'?" Questioned Cayde-6. "Going on patrol on the Dreadnaught. Flushing out some Taken." I responded. "God, I wish I could come with you." Begged Cayde. "You know..." Torrent-2 spoke up," I can tell Zavala and Ikora that you're dealing with something in the Tower. Go have fun." "Torrent, I was kidding." "Then don't take your long-awaited chance to kill some shit. Up to you." "Fine, I'll go. If they end up mad at me, it's on you." "Yeah right." "You know what? I'll bet 20,000 Glimmer we won't find jack-shit on that dreadnaught." "You're on!" "Cayde, are we going?" I butt in. "Yeah. Let's do this."

 _On the ship to the dreadnaught_

Alex and Cyclone-2, both part of the team that killed Oryx were with Cayde-6 and I. We were getting close to the landing port on the dreadnaught. Alex had been talking with Cayde pretty much the whole way there, and didn't stop. "Alright guys," I announce. "We're here. Unload and reload. Sweep out." We get out, and see nothing at first glance. "Looks pretty barren. You guys did a great job out here." "Thanks." Alex spoke up. "The Taken had a combat edge." "I would bet." After exploring for a little while, we find something never seen on the dreadnaught. Vex. Huh? What were the Vex doing here? And... Atheon? The conflux of time itself stood in front of us, as we just stared at it. With a sudden snap, their heads jerk right towards us. "We've been seen, let's go." I say. That's when it happened.

Time seemed to slow down for about 30 seconds, as we saw everything growing around us. Time wasn't being slowed down, it was being sped up! When it stopped, Alex and Cyclone were gone. "Alex? Cyclone? Where are you guys?!" "Come on, Uranium. We have to go now!" We start running, and see him. Oryx. Wasn't he dead? We couldn't run, we couldn't hide, we couldn't do jack shit. We were cornered. "Go, Uranium! I'll get his attention!" A ship flew up where we landed, and Cayde started to shoot at him. "It has a crash course set for the Tower! Just go!" He shouts at me. I start running around Oryx while his attention was drawn to Cayde. I get to the ship, and wait for Cayde. "Come on, Cayde! Let's get a move on!" Oryx's fist rose up, and smashed down on Cayde before he had time to react to the horde surrounding him. I was an Exo, so the entire fiasco was recorded on a video file. "CAYDE!" The ship blasted off, and the controls were fried. I was heading straight for the Tower.

 _At the Tower_

As I'm flying in, someone comes in over the radio. "You've entered the airspace of The Last City. State your business, or you will be shot down!" The voice was incredibly hostile. "This is Uranium-3 returning from a patrol on the dreadnaught." The other side was silent for a while, then said, "Please enter." There wasn't a human or awoken in sight. It was all Exos. As I exited my ship, I was greeted by three Exos. "We're the Vanguard roster of the New Order. Do you realize how long you've been on that Dreadnaught?" "N-no I don't." The three Exos look at each other, and the Hunter says. "Twenty thousand years." I laugh, because that's obviously a joke. "Why are you laughing? Do you see anybody else laughing?" I stop to realize he was being dead fucking serious. I deadpanned, then stuttered, "But- I was just-" The three look at me like I have something growing on my head. "Cayde is gone. Oryx killed him." It rolls off my speech generator. The three are shocked. (Heh, shocked.) "Was anyone else with you?" "Alex, a human Hunter, and Cyclone-2, a Titan." "Do you know what happened to them?" I shake my head no. "Well, there's something you should know, Guardian. Nothing is the same. We've entered a time of chaos and rebellion. The City fell into chaos, and there's nothing we can do." I'm speechless.

 _In the Guardian Living Quarters_

I attempted to summon Ghost, but he was missing. I go outside to ask where my Ghost went. "Are you joking? Ghosts have been dead for millennia." That statement shook me. "Oh, sorry to bother you." He keeps walking. Ghost was gone. I didn't even realize it. Does this mean he was just a tool? Not even a friend? Just something to get me through doors, draw out enemies, and hack computers. The last thing I ever said to him was, "Fuck you, Ghost." I wasn't joking around at the time. I was genuinely angry. I didn't even respect him. I hated myself. Then I realized. If Cayde were to let himself die for me, I'm valuable in some way. He sacrificed himself, for me. He died with his hand on his heart, and his mind on the future. I had no idea that this was the start of a tragedy. I had no idea what was going on, no idea who I was around, and no idea of what my future would be. Everything just descended into hell, and I haven't even scratched the surface. Cayde will be missed, but to be completely honest, he owes Torrent-2 20,000 Glimmer. Torrent is still waiting. Waiting for his best friend to come back. Waiting for his mentor to return. Waiting for Cayde-6, a dead Vanguard, to come back to his side.

 **That's it for today. We took a small step back in time, then a great big bound right back to 20,000 years in the future! GREAT SCOTT! (I don't own that reference.) See you all next time!**


	4. Chapter 3: A Light in the Dark

**Sorry I've been gone so long, but I've been occupied with Destiny and Battlefront! Anyway, here it is!**

Chapter 3: A Light in the Dark

"So, they really are gone?" Torrent asked sadly. "Yep. I'm sorry..." I told him. "It's fine. I just-" "Torrent.." I blurted. "What?" "Don't dwell on the past. That's the worst thing you can do." "..alright." "Uranium. Over here. We need to sign up for a new fireteam member." Alpha interrupted. "Ah, yes. See you soon, Torrent." "Seeya." "Alpha, where to?" "Come on. Sign-up sheet is this way."

At the bounty tracking board

"Fireteam- missing one member- requesting new one." Says the robotic bounty tracker. "Yep," I reply. "Fireteam name is Spark." "Fireteam name: Spark- confirmed. Searching for new members..." "Do you really think anybody else is crazy enough to be doing this?" I ask Alpha. "Only as crazy as the one leading them." "That is true... But why do they do this?" "Do what?" "Continue to fight against whatever threatens us." She's silent for a second, then says,"Maybe they see a light in the dark. Maybe this is all temporary." "New fireteam member- found. Sunbreaker Titan- with long history of- high value target eliminations- impressive show of strength- able to disarm Fallen- Cabal- and Taken. Accept?" Says the tracker. "Sure. Accept." I say. "Confirmed."

Meeting the Titan

"So your name is Hammer-54, correct?" I ask the Titan. "Yessir. My friends call me Ham for short." "Alright. How long have you been a Guardian?" "About 264 years now. Running strong." "Impressive." He seemed like the perfect fit for the team. Strong, charismatic, light-hearted... Maybe he could improve our lives just enough to lift our spirits! "How about you? How long have you been a Guardian?" He asked me. "Oh, around 740 years. 700 added because of the Vex." "Oh, they got ahold of you?" "I guess. It all went by in a blur." "Damn. I once knew a guardian before the Ghosts died out. Human. Bladedancer Hunter. She had a few run-ins with the Vex. I think her name was... Alex?" Alpha had another nervous twitch. "E-excuse me for a sec." She stuttered. "Alpha, where are you going?" She already left. "What's up with her?" The big, burly Titan asked me. "I dunno. She's been acting a little strange lately. I'll talk with her later." "Ok then." The Tower intercom beeped, then blared, "Fireteam Spark, you've been designated for Strike mission codenamed, S.A.B.E.R. Repeat. Fireteam Spark, you've been designated for Strike mission codenamed, S.A.B.E.R. Report to ship docks in 30 minutes. E.T.D. is in 35 minutes." "That's us?" Ham asked me. "Yeah. Wherever Alpha is, it isn't anywhere close to the Vanguard Hall." "Why?" "Dunno. C'mon, let's gear up."

30 minutes later

"Alpha! Let's go! E.T.D. is in 5 minutes!" Alpha is laying in her bed, rocking back and forth. "Alpha, I don't know what your problem is, but we're assigned to a strike! You're not even geared up!" "I dunno, Uranium. Why do we have to do it now?" I glared at her. "Vanguard orders." She groans, and reluctantly gets up. "Alpha.." "What do you want?" "What's going on? You run away at random times, you're shy around the Vanguard, and you're sitting here pouting about someone who died 700 years ago! You don't even know this person!" She turns at me suddenly, with her Exo eyes glowing red with anger now. "You don't know what happened 700 years ago..." "Alpha, I WAS THERE! I WAS THERE WHEN IT HAPPENED!" Why am I so angry? She's been pulling the same shenanigans ever since I met her. It gets real old real fast. "Alpha, I don't know why you're dragging your feet, but we have to take out a Fallen Shank bigger than this room, and we're running out of time! They're attacking the Warmind, dammit!" "WHAT IF I DON'T WANT TO BE THE HERO ANYMORE?!" Those words shook the room. "...what did you say?" I'm lost for words. "Every single fucking day, it's, 'go kill this','go kill that','go collect some of this useless fucking spinmetal, we might even give you a couple Glimmer!' I'm over it! Done!" "Do you remember what you said? About 'A light in the dark?'" "Who cares? We're just holding out as long as we can before some big, bad, scary monster is gonna swoop outta the sky and kill us, right? The Vanguard will probably expect us to kill that, too!" "Alpha, just stop for a second. Think about what you're saying." She stops yelling, and her eyes go back to that cool, icy blue that's normally there. "There. Better? Now, let's go do this Strike. Get your mind of things. You're a Hunter. You like to kill shit, right?" She laughs a little. "Yeah. I guess you're right." Ham busts in. "10 minutes overdue. Do you guys want the Warmind to belong to the Fallen?" "Oh shit. We gotta go!" She realizes. She gears up faster than I've seen her do it before. She throws on her boots, stuffs her arms in her gauntlets, and pins her ATS/8 Tarentella chest armor on as fast as Cayde would make a bet. "Let's roll." She says, her helmet still lopsided from rushing." I chuckle, and we head to the hangar.

In the hangar

"Where the hell were you guys? I thought the Ghosts would come back to life before you reported!" Platinum laughs. "Not funny." I snarl. "Oh, whatever, ya big baby." I never liked Platinum. His ego gets to him a lot, and that pisses me off more than it should. "I'm sorry Platinum, I just stalled. I take responsibility for it." Alpha speaks up. "Apology accepted. You guys ready?" "Yep." I reply. "Woah now, Uranium. I said _guys_!" I'm losing my temper with this smart-mouthed fucker. "Sorry. I'm just giving you a hard time. How about something easy, like Alpha over here?" That's it. I don't remember what happened next, but no one got hurt. Not my original plan. Instead, my arm was held back by Alpha. I was gonna right-hook a Vanguard? What's wrong with me?! Platinum didn't move an inch. Nerves of steel. "Stand down, Uranium-3. It's not worth getting arrested." "What? Were you gonna hit me? Let me have a try!" Jesus Christ. That. Fucking. Hurt. Using Alpha as an advantage, he hit me in the gut with only the strength Titans have. Now I know it's not all ego. He's Vanguard for a reason. I keeled over, and leaned against the railing of the hangar. I'm beginning to see Alpha's point here. Alpha and Ham did nothing. What could they do? Assault a Vanguard? "Now, THAT'S a punch, little squirt. Take your magic tricks somewhere else." Ham had the nerve to do this, and I still don't know how. He walked straight up to Platinum, and pushed him back like a bully in a playground. He got up right in his face, and said, "Vanguard Platinum, you have no right to be assaulting a Guardian under anybody's behalf. I could report you now, and have you fired and arrested. Insult my fireteam again. Go ahead. Try me." "Hammer-54, I see you know your rights. Carry on. Good luck." Platinum looked legitimately scared when Ham confronted him. We take off in the ship as we're headed to the Cosmodrome to aid the Warmind from a Fallen Shank the size of a Fallen Walker. What a wacky fucking world we live in.

 **That's it for now! Sorry I've been gone so long. I kinda forgot I was writing this! SEEYA!**


	5. Chapter 4: SABER

**Hey guys. I'm running a little dry on ideas, so I need some input! I'm still trying to churn these chapters out, but school is limiting my time. Enjoy!**

Chapter 4: S.A.B.E.R.

 _At the cosmodrome with Alpha and Ham_

"The Fallen are trying to break Rasputin's firewall. Find a way inside the bunker and eliminate the intruders. If they get ahold of the warmind, we won't be able to go anywhere near the cosmodrome. Make this quick and easy. Torrent-2 out." The three of us dismount the ship, and it flies out on its own. We start making our approach toward the bunker, and notice something in the sky. It looks about the size of the WARSAT you'd occasionally see while patrolling. Siphon came in on the radio. "Don't worry if you can't understand what Rasputin is saying. He's programmed to speak Golden Age Russian. We've actually got an interpreter with us to decipher the warmind's messages." "Roger that." Replied Ham. The giant thing in the sky came closer to the planet at alarming speed. It was getting closer, closer, then we ran for it. It hit the ground with a deafening sonic explosion.

We looked back, and saw a WARSAT in the ground. Considering that the thing was at least 15 feet wide, it was impressive that half of the damn thing was buried in the ground. We started to hear that Golden Age Russian over the radio. The interpreter came in over the radio. "It's saying 'The codes to access the bunker are within the WARSAT. Extract the codes, and make your way to the bunker on the eastern side of the cosmodrome.'" We saw Fallen skiffs flying in, and we knew exactly why. We ran behind cover from the WARSAT, and Alpha worked on the extraction process. "I sure wish the Ghosts were still here. Would've made this 10 times easier." She sounded like she was struggling and getting frustrated. "Uranium! Ham! Hold them all off while I try to patch in and extract the codes!" Ham and I took our spots on the side of the WARSAT, and aimed at the skiffs incoming. They dropped dregs, vandals, and captains. A lot of them. We could hardly keep up with the amount that the Fallen was throwing at us. "Alpha! How much longer?!" I yelled over the chaos. "Not much longer! I'm halfway there!"

It felt like forever. Seemingly endless waves of Fallen, all getting filled with bullets. "I'm out!" Ham yelled. "What do we do?!" Alpha yelled. "...I have an idea!" Perfect plan. I jump over the WARSAT, and toward them all. A purple aura formed in my hand, and I threw it at the horde. They practically disappeared in void light. "Nicely done, Uranium!" The waves stop, and the WARSAT is transmatted out. A marker appeared on our HUDs. "The base is over this way!" I yelled.

We found a large door in the side of a cliff off the Forgotten Shore. "This has to be it." Alpha said as she input the codes. The doors opened with a quiet _whirr_ , and showed us a tunnel that looked like a mine. We heard more Russian, and the interpreter followed up with, "The assault is happening in Bunker WAR-4. He's marked the way to the bunker on your HUD, and is going to shut down the power to trigger a lockdown to slow the assault. The lights will go out in 5 minutes." Siphon came up on the radio. "You know what that means right? You're on the clock, Guardians. The comms won't reach down into the bunker, so you're on your own. Good luck to you three."

We come into a large room with vents everywhere, and are immediately ambushed by Fallen. "Ambush!" Ham cries while fighting them off hand-to-hand. Alpha tried to kill a dreg shooting at Ham, but a vandal hits her in the shoulder. "I'm hit!" She yelped as she hid behind a small guard rail. The vandal had her pinned. I looked over at Ham in distress, and he was surging with fire. He held a hammer the size of his enormous arms, and started to run into the horde. I looked over as he smashed the entire wave with his blazing hammers. I could feel the heat from here, and the dregs and vandals were incinerated by Ham's assault. I went over the Alpha to help her up. The wound wasn't deep, but certainly hit a critical shoulder junction pivot. "I think it hit the IAI on the left shoulder." She told me. "IAI?" I had no clue what she was talking about. "Oh, I forgot tell you. IAI means Independent Artificial Intelligence. Each extremity has one for faster reflexes and more powerful blows." "No time for lessons! We're on the clock!" Ham yelled at us. Shit. I forgot about that. Ham exposed her IAI, and reset it using its emergency function. She gets up, and the lights flicker out.

It was so dark, I was almost blinded by my HUD's display. "Shit. Blackout. We have our sonar trackers, right?" Alpha asked. "Right." I tell her. "Switch them on."

We start making our way to the bunker, and we didn't find anything else on the way. "Looks like the Fallen ditched after the blackout." Ham pointed out. "Nope. Fallen wouldn't do that. They probably all went to the bunker to help get past the lockdown barrier." I corrected him. "Oh, right. That makes sense." Short trip to the bunker, but when we got there, our trackers showed us something that looked like a shank, but was clearly too big to be one. "What is that?" "Dunno, but it can't be good." We got a closer look, and saw the giant Shank up close. "It looks like this Shank was made to crack the firewall, but is having trouble from the blackout." We decide to make our move. Alpha surges with arc energy, and starts to cut apart the Fallen using her Bladedancing technique. They all fell at her feet, but she suddenly just collapsed. "Alpha? Alpha, get up!" Ham yelled at her. No response. Weird. The Shank looked at Ham and I, and we run for cover. "What happened to Alpha?!" Ham yelled to me over the giant Shank shooting at us. "No clue! Alpha! Get up now! No resting on the job!" She wasn't resting. I saw her twitch, but she wasn't responding to anything. Ham and I start shooting at the Shank from cover, but could hardly make a dent. I look over to the right, and see an arc energy discharge point. "Ham! I got an idea!" "Tell me!" "Arc energy discharge point!" I point at it, and he looks at it, and quickly tells me, "Blackout! No power!" "Who says we can't turn this place back on?!" This idea is so stupid that it has to work. I run over to a console, and try to start the process. "Nothing's working!" "I told you! There's no powe-"

The flick of the lights interrupted by clicking loudly. I quickly look over to Alpha, and she wasn't there. "Ham! Where's Alpha?!" "What do you mean 'Where is she?!'" I point and Ham finds, much to his surprise, nothing. The next thing we knew, the Shank was hovering over to the discharge point. The movement didn't look normal, though. It looked like it was being dragged over there. I heard a loud yell that I knew well. "Alpha! Keep pulling! You're almost there!" I saw a big spark come from Alpha, and she fell again. We decided to finish her job. Ham struck it with his fist, and sent it flying toward the point. I finished off the job by using a Warlock melee attack, sliding it toward the corner. The Shank was consumed by arc energy. It practically fell apart. The Shank was destroyed. Siphon comes in over the comms. "Well done. You two know what happened to Alpha?" "No clue." I tell him. "She was shot in the left shoulder IAI, and had trouble staying up in the bunker." "Bring her in for diagnostics. Mission complete, Guardians. Report back to the tower immediately." Ham and I share high-fives before picking Alpha up and carrying her out of the bunker.

 **Hope you all enjoyed! See y'all soon!**


	6. Chapter 5: A Turn of Events

**Hey guys. Sorry for not posting another chapter for a while. Hope you enjoy this one!**

Chapter 5: A Turn of Events

After we arrived back at the Tower, Alpha was brought to the R.F.P.A., and Ham and I went to our room. "What even happened to her?" Ham asked me. "Of all the years I've known her, I have no idea. For all I know, it could have been a short circuit." "Is that even possible for Exos?" "I don't even know." There a short pause, then Ham asked me, "Do you really think that we're the only ones left? The City? The Exos?" I thought for a second. "Yep. There's no way anything could have survived the second Collapse. We're lucky we did." We converse back and forth as we take off our gear, and outside of my window I see Torrent-2 running to the R.F.P.A. "What's Torrent doing out of the Vanguard Hall?" I ask Ham. "Dunno. Maybe we should check it out..?" "Yeah, sure."

 _At the R.F.P.A._

We're visiting Alpha in her room, and Torrent is with us. "What are you two doing here?" He asks us, sounding rather annoyed. "We're just here to check up on her. She is a part of our fireteam." Ham answers. "Oh. Well, alright." "You alright Torrent?" I ask him. He's quiet for a second as he stares into Alpha's eyes. She was powered down at the time. "I just had no idea..." He whispered. "Torrent...?" Ham and I were as confused as the next guy. "Alex, why didn't you tell me?" He asked her, even though she couldn't respond. Ham and I looked at each other like he had spinmetal growing out of his head, then I remembered. All of the nervous breakdowns, running away from Torrent, all of this made sense. But she registered as a Guardian as an Exo. I put my hand on Torrent's back, and said, "I guess this is a good thing, right?" "I guess... Was she on that dreadnaught 700 years ago?" "Yessir. She vanished during the flash-forward." "So that's what happened..."

Alpha started to boot up, and Torrent snapped his head up. When she saw him, she jumped. "Oh, h-hey Torrent! I-I-I was just about to get up and report the S.A.B.E.R.'s destruction to the Vanguard!" Torrent stared coldly into her eyes. "This isn't about that." He held her hand, and as Alpha was blushing, he asked her, "Alex, why didn't you tell me about what happened to you?" Alpha stopped in her tracks. She looked up at him, and quietly asked him, "..you found out?" "Yes, I did. It was in the records for your repair history. Why, Alex?" She couldn't come up with anything else but, "Because the Vex killed Alex." Torrent held her tightly as she wrapped her arms around him. He whispered, "I'm so glad you're okay. I love you." "I love you too." She whispered back.

As Torrent, Ham and I left the R.F.P.A., about an hour later, Torrent had his old personality back. Energetic, happy, charismatic, and joyful. The 'Alex' situation was really tearing him apart. "You know, Torrent, I'm really happy for you. I've never loved someone enough to look for them 700 years after they were dead." "No, she wasn't dead. She was just so wounded that she had to resign. Then, she had the transformation, and signed up as a Guardian again." He responded. He didn't sound so angry and pessimistic. He sounded like he did before the second Collapse. Like he did when he and 'Alex' were wed. Things were looking up. They _were_. That's when it happened.

We heard a gunshot, then people screaming. They were running out of the Vanguard Hall. Torrent asked one of the runners what was going on. "Platinum killed Siphon! He killed him!" What? That makes no sense. Murder within the Vanguard? Mutiny. We ran there, and sure enough, Platinum was there, holding Torrent's Last Word, with a bullet in Siphon's head. As soon as he saw us, he aimed at us. I saw a rage in his eyes I've never seen before, and he's been pretty pissed off before. Believe me. I know. "What are you three doing here? There's nothing to see!" He yelled at us. Torrent spoke up, very careful about his next words, making sure they weren't his last ones. "Platinum, think very carefully about what's gonna happen. You don't wanna do this to yourself." "I already have. Make my way up to the Vanguard, earn everybody's trust, and break the Tower down from there! I'm not who you think I am!" Platinum was never a warrior of light. He was an agent of darkness. He wanted us to fall to chaos. He wanted to destroy his morals, and therefore himself, and take us with him. Platinum raised his Dealbreaker Auto Rifle at Platinum, and said loudly and clearly. "Platinum-10, you are under arrest! Drop the weapon and stand down now!" Bad choice of words. Platinum aimed The Last Word at Ham's forehead, and shot. "HAM!" I yelled, as his head was knocked back by the bullet.

 _CLANG_

As Ham slowly put his head back upright, Platinum said _his_ last words with a slight smile on his face. "Hammer, you've always impressed me." Ham pulled the trigger, and Platinum fell dead. I looked back at Ham, and saw a bullet skid mark on his forehead. "Well then, you sure do have a thick skull." I joked. He looked at me, and rolled his dark blue eyes.

 _2 days later_

"Have either of you seen Alpha?" Torrent asked Ham and I. "Nope." "I think she went on a patrol in the Cosmodrome." I told him. "That's funny, because we got this distress call." He holds up a sound recorder, and it starts playing back the message, "This is Alpha-5! They're coming! Too many to count... can't hide, only running! They're catching up! Can't run for much longe-" Her voice was frantic and panicked. "Was she captured?" Ham asked. "We've only received signals of Fallen around the Cosmodrome. Maybe we can go on a special ops to break her out?" "I dunno about that." Torrent said, exasperated. "Fallen... Kidnapping a friend of yours, yeeessssss?" Said a voice in the corner of the Tower. "Wha-?" I jumped. I knew that voice. That guy was from the Reef. He wasn't a Guardian, certainly not human. He was... Fallen? I turned around, and Variks stood there, just like he would at the Reef a few centuries back. Only the Human and Awoken were killed. The Fallen weren't affected.

"It's a shame, yes? A good friend of yours, lost to the mercy of the Fallen House of Wolves."

"I thought we brought down the Wolves. About 750 years back." I replied.

"No, they are the smartest house of them all. Ruthless, violent, and very very clever."

"Well, what do we do?"

"Well, we can't fight them. They will... kill your friend. We must talk to them with no weapons, but our wits, yes?"

"I mean, that doesn't sound like a bad idea, besides the fact that it does. Walking into a Fallen House surrendering to them?! Are you insane?!"

"Do you want to help your friend?"

I stopped for a second to realize that he actually had a point. They weren't militaristic like the Cabal, savage like the Hive, or emotionless like the Vex. They were smart. Smarter than us, for sure.

"Fine, I'm in. Torrent?"

"Whatever it takes to get her back."

"What about you, Ham?"

"We're a fireteam. 'Till the end."

"'Till the end!"

On that day, we swore that we'd get her back, somehow...

 **That's Chapter 5! Hope you all enjoyed, and have fun with that Nightfall for this week. Yeah, about that... I'm probably gonna get another Ghost shell. Oops. Seeya!**


End file.
